Log-sawing machine



May 4,1926. 11,582,908

. A. DROUET LOG SAWING MACHINE Filed Sept. 29, 1924 zvsheetg-shee't 1 vyi.

. 1,582,908 A. DROUET LOG smmeucnmz:

Filed Sept. 29. l92 4 Fi i I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 mmmnummm Patented May 4, i926.

UNITED STATES ATENT QFFICE.

ALBERT DROUE'I, OF COURTENAY, FRANCE, ASSIGNOR T0 SOCIETY] ANONYME MARG- COL, 0F MOULINS T/ALLIER, FRANCE, A C0.R-PORA'JJION OF FRANCE.

LOG-SAWING MACHINE.

Application filed September fl '0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that ALBERT DROUET, citizen of the French Republic, residing at Courtenay, Department of Loiret, France, has invented certain new and useful Improvements in Log-Sawing Machines, of which the following is a specification.

. This invention relates tolog-sawing machines, bandsaws, circular saws and other wood-sawing machines.

The lateral displacement of the worktable upon which is suspended the log or piece to be worked'is generally obtained in log-sawing machines either by a system of screws and nuts, or by racks and pinions which automatically at each time ad vance the work-table by a quantity corresponding to the selected thickness of the saw-cut.

These known devices; have the disadvantage of being of complicated construction which must be carried out with great precision in order to obtain the desired accuracy in the thickness of the cuts. Moreover they do not allow of varying rapidly the position of the piece of wood suspended on the work-table by claws.

The device forming the object of the present invention is based upon quite another principle. It consists in the fact that the work-table on which is suspended the part to be sawn is mounted on pivoted parallel arms upon the carriage by means of two;v

or more arms which can be clamped or released at will by the operator charged with the working of the saw. The regulation of the thickness of the saw-cut is obtained by means of a guide arranged parallel to the direction of displacement of the carriage and against which the sawn face of the piece of wood comes automatically by the mere effect of inertia, when the carriage starts forward again. By regulating the position of the guide in relation to the saw-blade there is obtained the desired thickness of the out. It will be readily understood in these conditions how great is the simplification obtained, since the complicated devices ensuring the automaticlateral displacement of the work-table are completely suppressed. There is obtained at the same time the lat eral disengagement of the saw, for, asa result of inertia when the carriage starts back again, the piece of wood moves 'automaticallyfaway from the saw-blade. The invention likewise relates to the system of clamp- 29, 1924. Serial No. 740,673.

ing with rapid locking, which allows the piece of wood held byfthe clamps to be passed immediately from the position furthest from the blade to the closest position.

The annexed drawing represents diagrammatically, by way of example only, a form of construction of the object of the invention. Upon this drawing: Figure 1 is an end view of the carriage.

Figure 2 is a plan View.

Figure 3 is an elevation of the seen-from theright side, showing more es.- pecially the device forclamping and releasing the arms upon which the work-table is mounted.

Figure 4 is-a section on a larger scale, along 4-,4 of Figure 1, representing'the details of the guide. 1 I

' Figure 5 is a section on a'larger scale, along 55 of Figure 2, showing the device for clamping the arms.

machine Figure 6 is a vertical section of the gripsupport the work-table c, likewise by means of ball-bearing pivots. The distance between the pivots of the arms upon the carriageanduponthe work-table are equal so that the whole forms a jointed parallelogram. The piece of wood d to be sawed is suspended on the work-table by means of claws e and f with rapid locking, of which the description will be given hereafter.

Upon each of the arms bis fixed a sector 6 which slides in a member 9 integral with the frame a; a screw provided at its up per endwith a lever-g allows of clamping the sector 5 in the member g in any position. A spring under constant tension is at tached on one hand to the lever g and on the otherhand to'the frame a, and tends constantly to clamp the sector Z2 The simultaneous clamping of the two sectors is ob tained by means of a cable it fixed to the leverjs 73 This cable' passes over a jockey pulley b carried the carriage, then over pad two other jockey pulleys h 71; mounted insupports fixed to the ground and between which is located a movable pulley it"; the free end of the cable is [ixed at it upon the carriage. .The movable pulley h is rotatably mounted at the extremity of a lever 72 keyed on the end of a shaft 7L arranged perpendicularly to the direction of travel of the carriage in bearings fixed to the ground. At the other end of the shaft k is keyed a pedal 1' arranged within reach of the opera tor charged with the working of the machine. lVhen the carriage moves, the cable simply runs over the pulleys without causing any displacement of the levers y But if pressure be applied upon the pedal 21, the pulley it falls and exerts upon the cable a pull in the opposite direction to that of the springs so that the sectors 6 are released. A retaining device constituted by a second pedal 7' pivoted at j and provided with a hooking lug 7' allows of fixing the pedal in the releasing position when desired. A simple tap upon the pedal 7' is suliicient to free the pedal 2' and restore the clamping action.

In the vicinity of the saw-blade 7a is arranged the guide consisting of a plate Z, the face of which is very slightly inclined to the sawn face of the piece of wood (Z.

This plate is mounted upon a rod Z which can slide in a supporting member compressing a spring Z engaged between a collar on the rod Z at one end and the member P at the other end; upon this member is fixed an arm Z carrying at its extremity a vertical plate Z provided with a bevel face Z intended to facilitate the passage of the wood from the plate Z onto the plate Z in the movement of the wood toward the saw blade; the lateral surface of this plate parallel to the plane of sawing projects slightly in relation to the face of the plate Z. The member Z which slides in a frame Z is provided, with a rack Z gearing with a pinion l keyed upon the shaft of a hand-wheel m. This wheel is provided with a drum m which is marked with divisions and is covered by a casing of integral with the frame Z This casing carries a window m allowing the divisions on the drum m to be seen. An index line is marked in the centre of the window in order to facilitate the reading of the divisions. The plate Z can be provided with vertical slots or apertures to allow the escape of sawdust adhering to the wood.

The working of thedevice is the following:

wood J as a result of its inertia, lays itself against the plate Z; the latter has been adjusted beforehand in the desired position by the operator who reads the corresponding division in the window of. wood slides with its trimmed face upon the plate Z exerting a friction which ensures perfect contact of the wood with it and therefore very accurate guiding during the work. The operator disengages the retaining pedal before the wood arrives in contact with the saw so that the sectors 0 are held fast by the clamping device. The piec of wood passes beneath the saw and when it has moved past the latter, the operator again engages the pedal 2' in the releasing position. When the carriage starts back again,

the piece of wood (Z as a result of its inertia moves automatically away from the sawblade which is thus freed.

Owing to the elastic mounting of the plate Zany shock received by this plate is absorbed by the spring Z so that the dividing mechanism is-completely protected.

The work-gripping system with rapid locking represented on a larger scale in Figures 6 and 7 allows of mounting upon the carriageround or squared pieces of wood. It consists of a dovetail slide or guideway a, in which are slidably fitted members a and a carrying the claws e and respectively. The upper claw e is raised and lowered by hand; it carries with it in its movements a member 2) likewise sliding in the guideway; this member 22 is provided with a screw which is furnished at its outer end with a lever 72 and engages at its other end (having the screw-thread removed) in a lodgment formed in the claw-carrying mem her if. ilVhen the lever 39 is actuated in such a way as to advance the screw p into the member 29, the latter tends to move away from the member a so that the whole becomes wedged immediately in the slidewa-y. By undoing the screw 22 the wedging action is removed and the claw 6 becomes free at once. 7

The operation of the lower claw 7 is effected by means of a wheel Q integral with a screw 9 which is rotatably mounted in the work-table and is in mesh with a nut-formed in the member a.

When it is desired to operate the machine upon pieces of wood of irregular shape, the claws 7 may be too short to act properly. In cases of this kind, there may be fitted be tween the claw-carrying members a n the clzn\-'-extei1si.oii shown in Figure 8;

This device comprises a rod 1' carrying two claw members 8 8 the one fixed and the other slidable, the first being intended to fit the screw claw-carrier n and the second the claw-carrier 17. For this purpose the member .57 and the member s are provided with extension claws 3 in each-of which a hole a The piece of is bored parallel. to the rod 1'. Each hole 5 is called upon to receive one ofthe cylin' drical lugs t t fitted on the confronting faces of the claw carriers 91 a 7 The entry to the holes a is milled to a shape facilitating the engagement, which is very rapid. a

The ing 2? corresponding to the sliding member 8 is formed with a circular groove into which there enters during assembly the tip of the bolt u pushed forward by the spring u so that the said member becomes fast with the claw carrier nflbeing releasable therefrom when the bolt is withdrawn from itslodgment by pulling the knob a Owing to the arrangement of the connec tions, the extension can be made to pivot around the axis of the lugs in order to vary the orientation and the reach of the claws.

It is quite evident that the invention is not limited to the form of construction which has been described and that it can be carried out according to any modification based upon the same principle. Thus the system of locking and releasing the arms of the parallelogram might be different, the clamping and releasing might be obtained automatically at the desired moment by a system of tappets or the like adjustable in position or not, or the guide-plate Z might bereplaced by horizontal spring blades, the spring Z being then suppressed;

hat I claim is:

1. A wood sawing machine, comprising, a carriage, a work-table, pivoted parallel arms upon said carriage mounting the worktable to allow it to freely displace itself by inertia, a saw blade arranged parallel to the direction of displacement of the carriage, a gripping device securely holding the piece of wood to be sawn, means for locking the work-table in any desired angular position, and means for adjusting the thickness of the saw-cut.

2. A wood sawing machine, comprising, a carriage, a work-table, pivoted parallel arms upon said carriage mounting the work-table to allow it to freely displace'itself by iner-v tia, a saw blade arranged parallel to the direction of displacement of the carriage, a gripping device for securely holding the piece of wood to be sawn, members fixed to the arms of the work-table, means for clamping said members at will relatively to the carriage, and means for adjusting the thickness of the saw-cut.

3. A wood sawing machine, comprising, a carriage, a work-table, pivoted parallel arms upon said carriage mounting the work-table to allow it to freely displace itself by inertia, a saw blade arranged parallel to'the direction of displacement of the carriage, a

gripping device for securely holding the I piece of wood to be sawn, members fixed to the arms of the work-table, Vmeans for clamping said members at will relatively to the carriage, means for locking and releasing the clamping means at will, and means sired position, a work positioning plate arranged adjacent the'saw blade and parallel thereto and to the direction of'displacement.

of the carriage, for guiding the face of the piece of wood to be sawn, and means for adjusting the position of the plate relatively to the work-table.

5. A wood sawing machine, comprising, a carriage, a work-table, pivoted parallel arms upon said carriage mounting the worktable to allow itto freely displace itself by inertia, a saw blade arranged parallel to the direction of displacement of the carriage, a gripping device for securelyholding the piece of wood to be sawn, means for looking the work-table in any angular desired position, a work positioning plate arranged adjacent the saw blade and parallel thereto and to the direction of displacement ofthe carriage for guiding the face of the piece of wood to be sawn, means for adjusting the position of the plate'relatively to the work,- table, and means for controlling the adjust ment of the work positioning plate.

6. A wood sawingmachine, comprising, a carriage, a Work-table, pivoted parallel arms upon said carriage mounting the worktable to allow it'to freely displace itself by inertia, a saw blade arranged parallel to the direction of displacement of the carriage,

a gripping device for securely holding the piece of wood to be sawn, means for lock ing the work-table in any angular desired position, a yieldingly supported work positioning plate arranged adjacent the saw blade and parallel thereto and to the direction of displacement of'the carriage for guiding the face of the piece of wood to be sawn, and means for adjusting the position of the platerelatively to the work-table.

'7. A wood sawing machine, comprising, a carriage, a worl table, pivoted parallel arms upon said carriage mounting the work table to allow itto freely displace itself by inertia, a saw blade arranged parallel to the direction of displacement of the carriage, a gripping device for securely holding the piece of wood to be sawn, means for, locking the work-table in any angular desired. posltlon, ayieldingly supported work positioning plate arranged adjacent the saw blade and parallel thereto and to the direc:

tion of dis )lacement of: the carriage for guiding the face of the piece of wood to be sawn, and means for adjustii'ig the position of the plate relatively to the work-table and a narrow fixed guide plate, arranged be tween the work positioning plate and the saw blade and parallel thereto, the plane of the guide plate projecting slightly beyond that of the positioning plate, the edge of the fixed guide plate being bevelled 0n the side adjacent the work positioning plate.

8. A wood sawing machine, comprising, a

carriage, a work-table, pivoted parallel arms upon said carriage mounting the work-table to allow it to freely displace itselt by 1nertla, a saw blade arranged parallel to the direction of displacement of the carriage, a gripping device for securely holding the piece of wood to be sawn, said device comprising a slideway, a first claw, a nut fixed to the first claw, a screw engaging with the nut, means for actuating the screw and displacing the claw in the slideway,a second claw loosely mounted in the slideway, handcontrolled means for locking the claw in the slideway, means for locking the work-table in any desired angular position, and means for adjusting the thickness of the sawcut. In testimony whereof I-have signed my name to this specification.

ALBERT DROUET. 

